Publishers Weekly - Audio
Harry Hole returns in this ninth Scandinavian mystery from bestselling author Nesbø. After a three-year, self-imposed absence, former police detective Hole is drawn back to Oslo when the son of the woman he loves is arrested for the murder of a low-level drug dealer. Though he may no longer have a badge, Hole is still a formidable investigator, and he’s soon hunting for the truth behind the dealer’s death—a truth that could very easily get him, or someone close to him, killed. Narrator Robin Sachs hits all the right notes in his reading of this stark thriller, but it’s his richly nuanced portrayal of Harry Hole that is most memorable. It would be easy to make Hole a bleak, depressing, one-note character, but Sachs digs deeper into the material and perfectly captures Hole, presenting him as a man who lives every day with a sense of sadness, loss, and regret, but whose belief in justice and loyalty keeps him moving forward. Sachs and Nesbø make a fine match, and listeners are the beneficiaries of their partnership. A Knopf hardcover. (Oct.)
Publishers Weekly
In Nesbø’s deeply moving seventh Harry Hole novel to be published in the U.S. (after 2011’s The Leopard), Harry returns to Oslo from Hong Kong to help his estranged 18-year-old son, Oleg, who has fallen in with a group of drug users and is now accused of fatally shooting another teenager, Gusto Hanssen. Both Gusto and Oleg were pushing a new street drug in Oslo, a synthetic heroin known as violin, for a mysterious man known only as Dubai. Operating both under the radar and with the covert help of his remaining friends on the force, Harry delves into the world of drugs in Norway, from corner selling to an importation scheme that involves airline pilots. Harry uncovers a web of corruption that ensnares the very police force he abandoned three years earlier. This is Harry’s most personal case, and yet Nesbø never allows Harry’s paternal feelings for Oleg cloud his need for truth, however costly that pursuit may be. Agent: Salomonsson Agency. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Intricate, breakneck plotting ... an addictive page-turner.” —Los Angeles Times
“One of this great crime writer’s best.... Not to be missed.” —The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“A cunningly constructed thriller with a lot of moving parts, and once [Nesbø] sets the machinery in motion, the pace accelerates ... at Hollywood summer blockbuster speed.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Whether you are already a fan of Harry Hole, or just getting to know him, the gripping suspense and fast-paced action that fills Phantom will keep you reading until dawn.” —Oprah.com
“Chilling.... Nesbø’s most realistic and most affecting [novel].” —The Columbus Dispatch
“Far more than a procedural.... Personal and topical and hip, as usual.... Nesbø sets an emotionally wrenching story about family within a twisty tale of designer drugs, Norwegian police corruption, and a teenage underworld.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“The most realistic novel in this series ... it may also be the darkest.... Although the novel’s villains can’t hold a candle to Nesbø’s typical psychos, they’re much closer to the ones you might meet in the real world.” —The New York Times Book Review
“While Hole is indisputably the dominant force, Phantom features a second character that adds a surprising depth to the novel—and that is Oslo itself.” —The Boston Globe
“Harry Hole is fast becoming one of the planet’s favorite detectives. And his demons are almost as legendary as his observational and analytical skills. [This is] Harry’s most lethally gripping and personal journey to date.” —The Mirror (UK)
“Phantom will maintain Jo Nesbø’s unstoppable momentum.... His recovering-alcoholic, shambolic, rule-breaking detective is somehow always surprising us ... The relationship between Harry and Rakel is truly multifaceted, and richer in nuance than anything else in the crime genre.” —The Independent (UK)
“Deeply moving ... This is Harry’s most personal case, and yet Nesbø never allows Harry’s paternal feelings for Oleg to cloud his need for truth, however costly that pursuit may be.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)
“Phantom is a gritty, pared-back thriller.” —Esquire
“Nesbø begins with an emotionally gripping family drama but surrounds it with an elaborate, beautifully constructed plot.... Finally, it all comes back to Harry and the pain he endures in trying to carve out a separate peace from a world and a past that won’t let him go. Superb on every level.” —Booklist (starred)
“Those hooked by [The Snowman] or earlier ones should make their way here as quickly as they can ... This one best takes the full measure of the man ... Devastating for protagonist and reader alike.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Library Journal
Norwegian crime fiction writer Nesbø (The Snowman; The Leopard) is one of the best. His ninth series entry sees Harry Hole, now an ex-police officer, return to Oslo from Hong Kong to investigate drug dealer Gusto's murder. Oleg, a young man to whom Hole was once a father figure, has confessed, but Hole knows it can't be true. In a parallel narration, the dead Gusto tells what led to his murder, a literary device that enhances the novel and fills in details. Oslo's gritty and violent drug world is brought to life through the characters. The fast-paced plots are twisted and riveting, and the two stories collide to reveal a shocking climax. Nesbø is on par with the original Scandinavian duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, authors of the Martin Beck series. VERDICT If you are a series follower, you won't want to miss this! But if you are a newcomer, read the earlier ones first to gain an understanding of Hole. This is not for the squeamish! [See Prepub Alert, 4/16/12.]—Frances Thorsen, Chronicles of Crime Bookshop, Victoria, BC
OCTOBER 2012 - AudioFile
Robin Sachs’s portrayal of crusty Harry Hole, the Norwegian cop introduced in THE SNOWMAN, is right on target as Hole returns from Hong Kong to Oslo. He’s now working privately but still using all his cop connections. Hole sets out to rescue his addicted stepson, Oleg, then himself, from the gun sights of a vicious Russian drug czar and corrupt cops. Sachs offers a light Scandinavian accent that contrasts sharply with his gangsters, who speak “English with a Russian growl.” Nesbø’s storytelling is a challenge as it moves through all angles of the drug trade and involves a plethora of characters—politicos, pilots, elderly bystanders under fire, and the dying young addict/pusher whom Oleg is accused of murdering. Sachs keeps the characters clear and the transitions smooth while ramping up the tension. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
The internationally popular detective series by the Norwegian author builds to a blockbuster climax. The Nesbø phenomenon has transcended "next Stieg Larrson" status. In practically every comparison except books sold (and, with millions to date, Nesbø's catching up), he's superior to his late Swedish counterpart: more imaginative, better plotting, richer characters, stronger narrative momentum, more psychological and philosophical depth. No, he doesn't have an androgynously attractive tattooed girl, but he does have Harry Hole: long an Oslo detective who specialized in (increasingly gruesome) serial killers, now a recovering alcoholic involved in some shadowy pursuits in Hong Kong while trying to reclaim his soul. Only the most powerful lure could bring Harry back to the dangers and temptations he faces back home, and that lure is love. Readers of earlier books (and some back story is necessary to feel the full impact of this one) will remember his doomed relationship with Rakel and the way he briefly served as a surrogate father to her son, Oleg. That innocent boy has now become a junkie and an accused murderer in a seemingly open-and-shut case, with Harry the only hope of unraveling a conspiracy that extends from a "phantom" drug lord through the police force to the government. The drug is a synthetic opiate called "violin," three times stronger than heroin, controlled by a monopoly consortium. The murder victim (whose dying voice provides narrative counterpoint) was Oleg's best friend and stash buddy, and his stepsister is the love of Oleg's life. As Harry belatedly realizes, "Our brains are always willing to let emotions make decisions. Always ready to find the consoling answers our hearts need." As all sorts of father-son implications manifest themselves, the conclusion to one of the most cleanly plotted novels in the series proves devastating for protagonist and reader alike. Hole will soon achieve an even higher stateside profile through the Martin Scorsese film of Nesbø's novel The Snowman (2011), but those hooked by that novel or earlier ones should make their way here as quickly as they can. Where earlier novels provide a better introduction to Hole, this one best takes the full measure of the man.
